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I thought this would be of interest to the community here, but couldn't post it on the related thread in the P&R forum:

Remember those U.S. Olympic cyclists who set off a ruckus by wearing breathing masks in the Beijing airport?

They're not letting the U.S. Olympic Committee off the hook. Not when, they say, the controversy hampered their performance and ruined their Olympics.

Track cyclists Mike Friedman, Jennie Reed, Sarah Hammer and Bobby Lea hired a lawyer to draft a letter to the USOC saying they want an apology from the USOC that what they did was not inappropriate and that the same would not happen to U.S. Olympic athletes in the future.

Friedman said the USOC strong-armed an apology from the cyclists and in doing so, fanned the flames of a controversy that wound up hurting its own athletes. None of the four won medals in Beijing. Hammer and Reed went into the Games as medal favorites.

Friedman said the USOC, in forcing the apology, "threw us under the bus," because the organization was afraid the cyclists had offended Chinese hosts over Beijing's issue with air quality. He spoke only after his competition was complete, fearing reprisals from the USOC.

Spokesman Darryl Seibel said the USOC would meet with the cyclists this week to "bring closure to the matter."